Ditteridge is a village in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Box A box (plural: boxes) is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides (typically rectangular prisms). Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or v ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England. It is about northwest of Box village and west of the town of

Corsham Corsham is a historic market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. It is at the southwestern edge of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 road (England), A4 national route. It is southwest of Swindon, east of ...

. Formerly a larger settlement, it has an early

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

church and had its own civil parish for a time in the 19th century.

History

The

Fosse Way The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia ( Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis ( Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bat ...

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

passes west of Ditteridge. Domesday Book in 1086 recorded a small settlement at ''Digeric'' with six households and a half share in a mill. Consisting today of a farm and a handful of houses, the ancient parish of Ditteridge (which included the hamlet of Alcombe) had a larger population, peaking at 119 at the 1851 census. In 1881 the parish had a population of 101. As well as land around the hamlet (mostly to its north), the parish had three detached parts, all within the current Box parish. The civil parish, created in 1837, was combined with Box on 25 March 1884. Cheney Court (or Cheyney Court) is a large 17th-century

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

of two and a half storeys. In the late 19th century the author

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...

spent some of his childhood there while his parents lived in Hong Kong, the house being owned by his grandmother and four of his aunts. The

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

building was used by a language school – part of the Marcus Evans Group – as recently as 2020 but was absent from the company's website in January 2022. At Middlehill, half a mile to the south, a spa was built in 1783 but failed after a few years. Spa House is from that period, and nearby Middlehill House is an 1830s recasing of a mid-18th century building. From circa 1849 a school was associated with the church; after it closed in the 1880s, children attended the school at Box.

Location

Ditteridge is about east of the Three Shire Stones, which mark the point where the counties of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, and

meet.

Parish church

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of St Christopher is described by Orbach as "small and characterful". There is evidence of a Saxon church on the site. The rubble stone nave of the present church dates from c.1100, as evidenced by the south doorway which has carving of unusually high quality. The imposts have a winged dragon and a horse, and masked men's heads; the arch has lyre-shaped leaf motifs and the blank tympanum has a shallow niche, perhaps for a statue. East of the porch is a small Norman arch-headed light. The chancel was added in the 13th century and has a

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...

from the same period. The south porch was built in the 14th century, and changes were made to the windows in the 15th. Restoration in 1859–60 by E. W. Godwin included new roofs, ashlar lining to the north and east walls of the chancel, and an outer arched surround to the doorway. Some stained glass was designed by Godwin and the massive stone pulpit with incised decoration, described by Historic England as "high Victorian", is also his. A north vestry was added in the 20th century. The stone bowl of the font is Norman although its shaft and base are probably later medieval. The small

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

above the junction of nave and chancel has a single bell dated c.1599. There are seven Grade II listed monuments in the churchyard. At some point the benefice was united with Box and Hazelbury, although the parishes remain distinct. Today the parish is part of the Lidbrook Group, which also covers St John's church at

Colerne Colerne is a village and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England. The village is about west of the town of Corsham and northeast of the city of Bath. It has an elevated and exposed position, above sea level, and overlooks the Box valley to ...

References

External links

Ditteridge at GENUKI
* {{Commons category-inline Villages in Wiltshire Former civil parishes in Wiltshire Box, Wiltshire